State-owned gaming operator Pagcor said on Wednesday it was in talks with Greece's Loutraki Casino which wants to bid for the right to develop the first phase of the government’s 800-hectare gaming project in the capital.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) hopes to bid out the contract this year for the $10-billion development of the first phase covering 42 hectares, company chairman Efraim Genuino said on the sidelines of an international gaming conference in Manila.

“Loutraki is the biggest gaming operator in Europe. It’s from Greece,” said Genuino, who expects development of the first phase to be completed in two to three years.

“We're just finalizing the technical requirements before we start bidding them out. They're (potential investors) still waiting for the technical requirements so that they can comply."

The Philippines, which has a total public sector debt of P5 trillion or 87.7 percent of GDP as of June 2006, is eager for investments and the tax revenues gambling provides. Its casino monopoly Pagcor, which currently operates 13 casinos nationwide, is its biggest source of state income after taxes.

Genuino is hoping to hit the jackpot with the massive gaming and leisure project which would be built on an 800-hectare site of reclaimed land in Manila.

He was also hoping to generate more investments under a looser Congressional franchise.

Under the new Pagcor Charter, which is pending at bicameral conference committee, the Philippine casino operator may now enter into joint ventures with private investors.

The project, called Bagong Nayon Pilipino Entertainment City, is envisioned to be a total entertainment complex, complete with casinos, resorts, restaurants and a theme park.

"This will be a total entertainment package. It’s not just gaming but an entertainment complex for the family," Genuino said. “To attract tourists, we the design and approach to the project must be new compared to other Asian casinos.”

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wow.. ang laki!... anyways.. saan uli yung big plot of land na ito at the reclaimed area?... it's between the MoA and the Asia Towers right?

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Bay of Dreams
Now that Pagcor has had its legal life extended, it’s beginning to return its attention to Pagcor City — the plan to establish an entertainment and gambling center in the country to rival Las Vegas. No doubt, the Philippines is late excecuting on this vision. Macau has a huge headstart, and with the former Portuguese colony attracting 22 million Chinese eager to see whether Lady Luck will smile on them — and the huge cash flows they confer to the city’s casinos — it will be hard to play catch up. That won’t stop Pagcor’s Chairman Efraim Genuino from pursuing his dream, as a columnist from the Business Mirror writes.

Chairman Genuino explained that for more than four years now, many foreign investors have been raring to come in and invest in the realization of Pagcor E-City.

“The investors have all the while been waiting in the wings for the congressional approval of our new franchise,” Genuino said. The only thing that deterred them from putting in their money was the fact that the old franchise was good only up to July 11, 2008.

He also intimated that all the while, in anticipation of the new franchise, Pagcor had quietly blocked off 700 hectares of contiguous reclaimed land (larger than Singapore?) in the Manila Bay area in partnership with the Public Estates Authority (PEA). It is now just a matter of evaluating which foreign investors to accommodate in the proposed city.

The proposed city will have arcades, malls, hotels, a racetrack, residential villages, recreation parks, theaters, wellness spas, convention sites and, of course, gaming centers—in short, the works—comparable to the facilities of Las Vegas and the modernized Macau complex. Definitely, he says, the objective is to build an entertainment complex more dazzling than the one in Thailand.

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See you later alligator... See you in congress crocodile!

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) yesterday said it will build a $20 billion gaming and entertainment complex in the 800-hectare land by the Manila Bay.

The complex to be called "Pagcor City", will signify the government gaming firm’s shift to entertainment, copying the Las Vegas template.

With the proposed Pagcor City, we can catch up with Macau and Singapore," Pagcor chairman and CEO Efraim Genuino said.The project site is the PEA-Amari reclamation site.He said a group of Japanese businessmen planned to invest for Japanese retirees. Other partners in the project are from Europe, the United States and South Korea. Paul Michael Boettcher, chairman and CEO of Storm International of Russia said they are interested in investing in the country.

"We’re here to expand our business in Asia, we’re interested in setting up business in the Philippines." Boettcher said.

Genuino said the construction will be at no cost for the government, as foreign investors will finance the project. Pagcor will look for a master planner for the said project. The Pagcor chief named the Loutrake group, as one of the locators in the Pagcor City.

He claimed there will be multiple partners for this project.To date, Pagcor is securing the technical requirements needed for the venture.The phase 1 of the project will include a resort, hotels, and a theme park, which is expected to start construction this year and is expected to finish in 2 to 4 years. The first phase has an estimated 10,000 tables and 3,000 additional machines. They hope to start operating in three years. The project has three phases.Genuino said the project will encourage more tourists coming in the country, as he expects that 80 to 90 percent of the revenues that will be derived when they start operating will come from tourists.

They hope to attract 10 million tourists in five years starting this year from 2.6 million in 2006.

Foreign gaming experts are optimistic with the Philippines, claiming lots of tourists will be coming here because in Macau, they have a hard time communicating, according to Tim Shiah, of Wynne Resorts Las Vegas and Macau.

The Jayport Holdings said the Asian legitimate casino industry is worth $4.1 billion and will grow by about 6 percent annually for the next 20 years.

The Far Eastern Economic review in its report said Asians are expected to spend $23 billion in casinos worldwide by 2010.

The worlds leading international gaming executives and experts are here for the Asia’s Gaming and Entertainment (GEM) plus Leisure Expo Conference 2007 at Hyatt Hotel and Casino from March 21 to 23.

"Asia’s GEM 2007 marks the paradigm shift of Pagcor from casino to entertainment. For our country to recover economically, we need tourism and for us to invite tourist to come here we need projects like Asia’s GEM and get the support of foreign investors," Genuino said.Pagcor earned $25 million last year, up from 2005’s $23 million, wherein 90 percent of it came from business operations.

I've seen this news kanina sa BANDILA! I'm so excited to see this kahit under developed lang . I heard there will be theme parks blah. Haha, and the good news is the project will be ventured by other investors (By congress approval) Wow, imagine ung buong Macapagal Blvd. when it's all done. Haha With Mall of Asia, Neo Chinatown and all the other malls, it will look brilliant! Way to go PAGCOR!

State-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is planning to set up a $15-$20 billion gaming and entertainment complex in the country which will be funded by foreign investments, a company official said Wednesday.

The development will be dubbed "Pagcor City" and will sit on 800 hectares of reclaimed land along Manila Bay.

"The project is a shift for gaming into entertainment. We will form a Las Vegas in the Philippines," Pagcor chairman and CEO Ephraim Genuino told reporters during a press briefing.

Genuino said investors from Japan, Europe, the United States and South Korea have already signified interest to finance the venture. He said 90 percent of the funds for the project will come from foreign investors.

The Japanese investors, the official said, are interested in developing a retirement village within the area for the rapidly expanding Japanese retiree market.

"Pagcor City" is expected to be finished within 2 years.

Construction of the first phase, which will include a resort, hotels, and a theme park, starts this year. The project has three phases all in all.

Genuino said Pagcor is not expecting the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to oppose the development because the state-owned gaming agency has helped with many of the Church's programs.

�The Church will understand it because we have been contributing a lot to their social projects," the Pagcor official said.

Genuino also said the entertainment and tourism offerings of "Pagcor City" may make it more acceptable to the Church.-GMANews.TV

Very few people saw its significance, but the passage recently of the long-pending bill granting the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) a new 25-year franchise would definitely have a major positive impact on our economy. In only a few months—or at least before the year is over—the whole country will begin to see the windows of opportunity that have been flung wide open with the approval of the measure.

I don’t know why the congressional approval of the new Pagcor franchise took so long. The proposal to grant the government-owned corporation a new franchise was filed in the House more than five years ago at the start of the 12th Congress. The bill was approved by the House. But the Senate did not have time to act on it up to the adjournment of session. Alas, the Senate was too preoccupied with its headline-making investigations to care about this piece of meaningful legislation.

The same thing almost happened the next time around. When the 13th Congress was convened, the bill was technically back to square one. The measure had to be filed in the House again as a new bill (this time as HB 3409) and undergo the same rigmarole it went through during the 12th Congress.

And it would have again lapsed into a technical demise in the Senate at the end of the three-year lifetime of the 13th Congress had President Arroyo not called for a special session for the passage of the antiterror bill and other urgent pending measures. Fortunately, though rather belatedly, it finally dawned upon our legislators that the renewal of the Pagcor franchise was a vital economic measure. And so, toward the end of the two-day special session, HB 3409 managed to squeak through the last hurdle (or second reading) of the legislative process.

Now it’s just a matter of having the bill signed into law by the President.

Over the past five years, Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Efraim Genuino—who has been described as a self-made businessman and socio-civic leader—has been nurturing a dream. He dreams of building what he likes to call the “Pagcor E-City” with the “E” standing for entertainment.

Pagcor E-City would largely focus on entertainment instead of casino gaming, a complex that would have something to offer by way of entertainment to every member of a family.

Genuino, by the way, was among the very few who have been bestowed the CEO Excellence award by the International Association of Business Communicators (Philippines) alongside Finance Secretary Gary Teves, Unilever CEO Howard Belton, Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca and Ayala Land CEO Jaime Ayala. Now that the renewal of the Pacgor franchise is a fait accompli, Genuino has wasted no time in transforming his “dream city” into a program of well-defined phases accompanied by specific plans of action.

He has absolutely no doubt that his concept of Pagcor E-City would become a glittering reality within the next few years.

“We’re undertaking a paradigm shift from gaming to entertainment, a concept that members and leaders of the Catholic Church have openly supported,” Genuino says. Incidentally, Genuino is also proud of the fact that Pope Benedict VI had formally bestowed on Pagcor and Genuino the former’s apostolic blessing in recognition of Pagcor’s humanitarian programs.

In one of our conversations, Chairman Genuino explained that for more than four years now, many foreign investors have been raring to come in and invest in the realization of Pagcor E-City.

“The investors have all the while been waiting in the wings for the congressional approval of our new franchise,” Genuino said. The only thing that deterred them from putting in their money was the fact that the old franchise was good only up to July 11, 2008.

He also intimated that all the while, in anticipation of the new franchise, Pagcor had quietly blocked off 700 hectares of contiguous reclaimed land (larger than Singapore?) in the Manila Bay area in partnership with the Public Estates Authority (PEA). It is now just a matter of evaluating which foreign investors to accommodate in the proposed city.

The proposed city will have arcades, malls, hotels, a racetrack, residential villages, recreation parks, theaters, wellness spas, convention sites and, of course, gaming centers—in short, the works—comparable to the facilities of Las Vegas and the modernized Macau complex. Definitely, he says, the objective is to build an entertainment complex more dazzling than the one in Thailand.

Genuino estimates that the initial capital expenditure of foreign investors eager to come in will be anywhere between $5 billion and $10 billion. Already, he says, among the early birds who want a piece of Pagcor City are big names in the international gaming industry from Las Vegas, Monte Carlo and Macau.

Genuino is so enthused by the gaggle of economic opportunities that would come our way once Pagcor starts building this modern city with a total global outlook. The construction phase alone, he says, would mean billions in direct foreign investments that would surely quicken the pace of economic activity in this part of Asia.

“But the beauty of it all is that the Philippines will not spend for this ambitious developmental project. That’s how Bill Gates became the richest man in the world. He did not have the capital, but he had a brilliant concept to sell in Microsoft.”

Pagcor until now has been the third largest revenue raiser of the government next only to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs, with a progressively increasing contribution to the government’s coffers amounting to P22 billion annually.

When Pagcor E-City finally begins to rise by next year at the latest, think of all the money it will attract from around the world.

A $10-billion Las Vegas-style gaming and entertainment complex will rise on an 800-hectare reclaimed area on Roxas Boulevard beginning this year, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) said yesterday.

Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Efraim Genuino said construction of the entertainment complex, to be called "Pagcor City," will be handled mainly by foreign investors.

"Our country will not spend for these developments. We’re just selling a concept," he said.

The project is expected to attract 10 million foreign visitors in five years and generate millions of jobs for Filipinos.

"The Pagcor City will have arcades, malls, hotels, wellness spas, cultural center, sports arena and theme parks, patterned after Macau and Las Vegas," Genuino said at a press briefing on the sideline of a tourism conference called Asia’s GEM (Gaming and Entertainment plus Leisure Expo Manila) at the Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila yesterday.

"Development of big hotels and big entertainment areas is a key to attracting tourists, as a matter of fact our requirement is for the investors to come up with the design or proposal that will attract tourism," Genuino said.

"The reason why we lack tourists is we lack hotels," he said.

Yesterday’s event kicked off the three-day Asia’s GEM 2007, co-presented by Pagcor and the Euro-Asian Cooperation on Gaming.

He said investors from Japan, the United States, South Korea, and some European countries have signified interest in investing in the project, according to Genuino.

One of the biggest casinos in the world, the Loutraki, is expected to set up shop in Pagcor City.

Pagcor City will be developed over a seven-year period in three phases.

Genuino said the first phase of the project, which begins this year, includes the construction of a resort hotel and a theme park. Phase 1 is expected to be completed in two years.

The entertainment complex’s casino will have 1,000 table games and 3,000 slot machines.

"The Asia’s GEM 2007 marks the paradigm shift of Pagcor from gaming to entertainment. For our economy to recover economically, we need tourism. And for us to invite tourists to come here, we need projects like Asia’s GEM to get the support of foreign investors," he said.

"The thrust now is not casino gaming but total entertainment. In the global arena, only 25 percent of the revenues of gaming destinations such as Las Vegas come from actual gambling," Genuino said, adding that some 80 percent of Pagcor City’s revenues is expected to come from foreign visitors.

"Our country stands to gain substantial revenues from this market as casino visitors spend more than general tourists," he said.

"It is important to have the destinations and attractions that would ensure a pleasant stay for casino visitors. Most of them travel with their families and take side trips," Genuino said.

The complex will have a "tropical" area featuring white sand beaches and lagoons, all facing Manila Bay. A Winter Park is also being eyed with large ice skating rinks as well as real snow and skiing facilities.

A Marina complex will feature a walk-through glass tunnel showcasing different marine species in the Asia-Pacific region. A fish port and a seafood restaurant to be patterned after the Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco are also being eyed for Pagcor City.

Plans include the construction of a boardwalk to provide convenient public access to a pedestrian promenade lined with specialty restaurants and outdoor cafes. An observation tower envisioned to be the tallest in the world will be erected in the area. Genuino said Nayong Pilipino may also relocate to Pagcor City.

He said Japanese investors are interested in developing retirement homes for the growing Japanese retiree market. "We were able to attract interest from a number of Japanese retirees," Genuino said.

Pagcor is consistently the third biggest income-generating arm of the government. Last year, Pagcor registered revenues of P35 billion compared with only P23 billion in 2005.

Under its charter, Pagcor serves three crucial roles: to regulate and operate all games of chance in the country, generate funds for the government’s infrastructure and socio-civic projects, and boost local tourism.

Led by the southern Chinese enclave of Macau, Asia is witnessing a gambling boom as the region looks to new, glitzy Las Vegas-style casino complexes offering entertainment and exhibition venues to attract more tourists and business travelers. -

I've seen this on the news! I hate the name though PAGCOR Entertainment City. Too generic... why don't they name it like some sort of a futuristic Filipino name of some kind. Basta wag yun. I hope this materializes and di lang puro plano.

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wow...that conference had a lot of big time players (no pun intended) in the gaming industry - MGM, Wynn, Ritz, etc. I hope they have a keen interest in Pagcor City and that this project will actually materialize. We've seen too many ambitious projects halt after the planning stage.